Jack Takes Over!

It was my birthday 2 weeks ago and I received this gorgeous wicker sun lounge for the deck from the family, but it looks like I'll have a fight on my hands with Jack for any rights to said lounge!!!

Back Again!

Well, 2011 is done and dusted and 2012 is almost 1/12 finished!! Can you believe it?!

We had a quiet family Christmas with Farmer Phil trying to get as much stubble sprayed as possible before we headed away on our annual 2 week water skiing holiday to Renmark, SA. The rain from late Spring and early Summer has meant that lots of unwanted weeds have grown and need to be controlled quickly.

Our New Years Eve incorporated a 50th birthday party for a good friend and neighbour and I finally met a fellow "farmers wife" blogger in Polly from Duality.

I do not have a single photo of our holiday this year - the camera never came out of it's cover! We spent the whole two weeks very relaxed just skiing, chatting, having a few drinks, eating ourselves silly and generally chillin' with our friends Andrew, Michelle, Lucy and Hannah. We had a rather large camp this year with Daniel and Ange visiting for the first week, Ryan stayed only for the first week too and then went to a water ski training camp. Emma had her friend Hannah stay with us for the whole two weeks which was very entertaining! And Andrew's brother and family visited for a weekend too! We've also made friends with some fellow campers from Victoria who we catch up with each year at Renmark. So, we're home now and getting back to some normality! Although we're off to Port Macquarie tomorrow for Ryan to compete in the Australian Junior Masters Water Ski Tournament! No rest for the wicked as they say!

I thought I'd share with you a few of the Christmas presents I received this year. I was very impressed that my family have actually listened to me when I've dropped hints over the last 12 months!

First of all I wanted a silver balls necklace and I did receive! Yeah!! Now to get the matching bracelet?!


A few new cookbooks were also unwrapped so it either means I'm a terrible cook and the family wants me to get inspired, or they think I love to cook?!

And this is a picture of one of my bookcases absolutely chocked with books - I'm an avid reader and can get through a large number of books quickly when I've got my reading mojo on!

So Emma remembered that I'd been looking at getting myself a Kindle a few years ago but that never eventuated, so I received one on Christmas day! It's the best thing - so easy and cheap to use (lots of free and 99c books to download! The funny thing is that my sister Lisa also received a Kindle from her family for Christmas without either family knowing! If you know either Lisa or myself then you'll know that we're very much alike - we hate coffee but love chocolate, we order the same food whether it's just a sandwich or a meal, and we have the same taste in home decor, clothes, shoes etc. It's very spooky sometimes!

Since receiving my Kindle on Christmas Day I have read:

Cocktails for Three by Sophie Kinsella/Madeleine Wickham

Dodge the Bullet by Christy Hayes

Girl & The Ghost Grey Mare by Rachael Treasure

How to Break Your Own Heart by Maggie Alderson

Six Geese a-Laying by Sophie Kinsella

Wedding Bell Blues by Ellie Ferguson

Territory by Judy Nunn - 16% read so far

I've also downloaded ready to read:

Campaign Ruby by Jessica Rudd

Ruby Blues by Jessica Rudd

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

So there's a really quick round-up of the last month or so here on the farm since harvest finished. More to follow later!

More Home Improvements

The builders have just packed up their tools and left after 3 days work installing a verandah across the south western side of our house and a covered walkway to the shed. All it needs now is some potted hydrangeas (one of my favourite plants) and maybe a staghorn or elkhorn on the wall to make it look even cooler. It'll be so good to kick off your workboots at the back door without fear of them getting drenched in a downpour!

Harvest 2011 Finished!!

We finished harvest yesterday at 5pm and today it has started to rain - perfect timing!!!

It feels so good to know that we've finished and can now relax and enjoy Christmas. We put in some very late nights last week to beat the rain we knew was coming - try 1.30, 2.30 and 3.30 am!!!

Today we slept in and have just woken up from an afternoon nap. Now to get the final Christmas shopping done and get this house back to normal!

End of School Year Bragging

Both Fiona and Corrie have recently posted about their kids school achievements at their respective presentation assemblies. Well, now it's my turn to do some bragging about Emma's achievements!

Friday was Emma's last day of school for 2011 and it culminated in the school's Speech Day assembly. It starts at 10am and does not finish until at least 1pm. The parents then have to collect all their kids clothing, bedding, horses if they have one at school and general junk before making the long journey home to all corners of Eastern Australia.

If you've read my blog you will know that Emma is a bit of a singer. At the assembly she received a class award for music, she also received the whole school music award, and on top of that she was awarded a special Cultural "Blue" award for excellence in music.

The school only awards a few "Blue" awards each year. This year there was one given for academic excellence, two for agriculture, two for sport and two for cultural excellence. Each recipient had a half page write up in the Speech Day programme about their achievements in their special field.

Unfortunately neither Farmer Phil or I could make it to Speech Day as we were flat out harvesting with wet weather on the way. We had to get friends who have a son at school with Emma to bring her home. The school didn't inform us that Emma was to receive this special award and Emma didn't tell us as she wanted it to be a surprise. It would've been lovely to see her receive her awards but it is an especially busy time of year for us with harvest.

We can always look forward to next year and see if she wins another "Blue" award!

ALDI Gingerbread House

I bought this gingerbread house kit from ALDI a few weeks ago and today Emma put it together. I think they only cost about $10 and they look really cute with the wicked witch and Hansel and Gretel already made out of marzipan. I know it's cheating but really who has time to make one from scratch anyway?

Floordrobe??

Our almost 23yo son Daniel has been home helping us with the harvest for the past few weeks. He is occupying his old bedroom which has been converted to my sewing/ironing/spare bedroom ever since he left home almost 5 years ago.

I thought I'd show you all a photo of the whirlwind he has created...... he calls it his "floordrobe"!! Arrgghhh! All I can do is close the door so I don't have to look at it!

PS - Harvest is on hold again after receiving another 12mm of rain. We still have 1500ac of wheat to go - it's been a frustrating harvest with breakdowns and wet weather. The yield is down a little from last year but the quality of the wheat has been very high which is great!

Sunset at "Fairfield"

I snapped this photo on my phone on Saturday night in between driving the header, fueling up vehicles, setting up lights at the silo pad, moving augers, sampling wheat etc. Too pretty to let it go unnoticed!

Finally Started on the Wheat!

We finally started to harvest the wheat today! It's taken a while for the grain to be dry enough to harvest after we received 50mm of rain last week. So far the quality of the grain has not been affected by the rain. The yield is down slightly from last year as we didn't receive as much Spring rain this year as last year. As long as the grain quality doesn't get downgraded from any weather damage we'll be very happy! Hopefully finish in 2 weeks all going well - fingers crossed!

The Deck

Jack thinks the new deck is pretty good. It'll look even better in another month when a couple of coats of oil are applied which will make it an even richer red colour. We love it!

This is the new outdoor setting I bought a few weeks ago. Farmer Phil and I spent the afternoon putting it together yesterday while the rain was pouring down!